Posts Tagged ‘Newspapers’

Undeniable Misrepresentation

Posted on November 15, 2012 in Underrepresented

There exists an undeniable parallel between the level of cultural acceptance of a racial group and the amount of news coverage devoted to them. Journalism has remained dominated by coverage of white men and white issues since the concept of media was invented. To compensate for the uneven representation, racial groups fought back by creating alternative newspapers published by different racial minorities. Such newspapers have allowed members of racial minorities to find their niche in the news, but this does not compensate for their failure to give fair coverage to all minorities. The unequal representation has serious effects on society. In her article “The Minority Press: Pleading Our Own Case,” Pamela Newkirk quoted a National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders panel that stated, “By failing to portray the Negro as a matter of routine and in the context of the total society, the news media have, we believe, contributed to the black-white schism in this country,” (The Press, 88). By leaving the racial minority groups out of press coverage, journalists misrepresent reality to Americans. Although African Americans have fought back by creating their own newspapers and media outlets, such as BBC or The Chicago Defender, the racial minorities are still not fairly acknowledged in the press. It is 2012, approaching fifty years past the civil rights movement. In this modern day, it is appalling to see such a bold example of inequality as this one.

When looking at African American newspapers such as The Chicago Defender and The Chicago Crusader, the substandard quality is shocking. I say this not to put down the people who have formed these newspapers, because they have obviously done so out of determination for equality, which is honorable and admirable. However, it is undeniably disheartening to compare newspapers like these to The Chicago Tribune or even The Chicago Sun Times. The differences in quality are stark, and they epitomize the perceived difference in “American-ness” between African-Americans and whites. The African American public should have access to a reputable paper that will provide them news that is relevant to their lives. After the Civil Rights Movement, large steps were made in changing laws to make America a more accepting place for African Americans. However, changing public opinion to accept African Americans as an integral part of our country is a war that continues on. The difference in the newspaper quality provided for African Americans than that provided for whites is comparative to the difference between the facilities, such as water fountains or public bathrooms, provided to African Americans and whites during the years of segregation.

I believe Americans easily convince themselves that the racial tension that divided our country in the past is behind them. However, looking at the difference in the publications for African Americans and those provided for white readers clearly proves that these problems are ongoing. The first amendment of the United States constitution provides freedom of the press to ensure that all Americans have the opportunity to remain informed through the media. African Americans are being denied this right because they are ignored by reputable newspapers and unable to form their own because of the widespread discrimination in the industry. They deserve equality, especially equality of information provided by the press.

Newspaper Endorsements: From Perennial Favorite to a Four Year Flip Flop

Posted on October 29, 2012 in Endorsements

There is a great website by the American Presidency Project that compares the endless newspaper endorsements that have been flying out in the last week. It shows the 34 endorsements for Obama compared to the 28 for Romney. It shows the higher total number of circulation under the Obama newspaper endorsements than the Romney ones. And it also shows the unique trend of newspapers (current number sitting at 10) that endorsed Obama in 2008 but now endorse Governor Romney. It is understandable that many of these newspapers have flip flopped after seeing a slower than promised comeback of the economy. I happened to be more intrigued by the 1 lone newspaper that flip flopped the other way – The San Antonio Express News – and the newspaper that is probably the most predictable in presidential endorsements (even more so now for their native son), The Chicago Tribune.
Most Texas metropolitan newspapers – like The Houston Chronicle and The Star Telegram (Fort Worth) – surprisingly endorsed Obama in 2008 but this year chose to endorse Romney and those other Texas newspapers that endorsed McCain in 2008 stayed with the party ticket. Except for the San Antonio Express News. The Chicago Tribune and the Sun-Times (which no longer endorses) had both decided to back Senator Obama in 2008 and to be honest, there was really no other choice for the two major newspapers of the candidate’s political hometown. The San Antonio Express News headlined their endorsement with the statement that “Obama has earned a second term” – a surprising divergence from the general theme of this campaign season, that Obama may not have done great but he’s still better than that other guy. The Tribune is more harsh on the president. The article references the list of reasons it gave in 2008 for why they endorsed Obama and one by one graded the president’s performance over the past years and whether he proved them right. The Tribune cited his decisiveness, which shined through in his expert handling of foreign affairs. The Express-News is equally as praising towards his foreign policy. The Tribune originally believed in his bipartisan appeal though, which both papers cited as a true failure of the president’s last four years. But surprisingly the papers differ in their general message. The Express News is optimistic, recognizing the handicap Obama deserves due to the mess he inherited and is extremely impressed by his immigration reform – an important issue to the state of Texas. The Tribune goes in depth about how Romney is a viable candidate for president due to and how the president never came through on the “change” he promised. It can be seen as a sort of lesson of “tough love” for Chicago’s native son. Both papers however reach their conclusion for Obama within the same vein as the rest of America – that he is the lesser of two evils. Romney raises skepticism with his tax plan and his big business past. Interestingly enough, the San Antonio Express-News never references its previous endorsement, as if it never happened. It is intriguing to think about the reason why they flip flopped but the reader will never know for sure. With the Tribune, their justification for past endorsements and reasons for the current endorsement are laid out in a clear, transparent way. This is much more convincing, despite both papers endorsing the same candidate.

Modern Wedding Banns?

Posted on October 1, 2012 in Wedding Announcements

It was remarkably difficult to find wedding announcements. Even regional newspapers of great prominence, like The Plain Dealer didn’t have them, though it did have obituaries. I had to search quite low to find them, and it reminds me of a talk about the duties of news I once had. Granting it was an old reporter complaining about how good things were back in his days, but one of the things he spoke of was the sense of duty and how newspapers used to run such announcements free despite them losing money because of it. He spoke of how this was a great service to historians. Today this is apparently on the decline, but I do wonder whether it is in the duties of newspapers to service the historians. It at least seems like a worthy pursuit. Regardless, I had to resort to google and found wedding announcements in The Dallas Morning News and The Republican. It appears such announcements, excluding ‘nobility’ such as the Clintons or Kennedys, is strictly local news, and not simply general local news, but extremely specific to the locality.

    The Republican is specific to Springfield, Massachussets, and The Dallas Morning News is specific to Dallas, Texas. The first thing that strikes me about them is that the photos are overwhelmingly of European Americans, while statistically they should be about seven out of ten and half respectively based on an admittedly cursory overview of the US census data for the areas. Predictably, they are almost invariably from the local area. I also find it interesting several are announcements after the fact, making this a sort of reverse banns. In the old days, weddings were announced at banns at Church to prevent bigamy, though I doubt newspapers have taken on this purpose. The publics these newspapers serve, if indeed it is equal to the announcers, thus seems to not only be a very specific area but a specific segment, at least along race lines, and perhaps along economic ones, though I cannot make such a determination without indulging in my own prejudices. The man in the soldier’s uniform might be the son of a multimillionaire, for all I know.

I wonder, however, if it is equivalent. Perhaps sending in such things is a specifically cultural custom. I can easily imagine the custom being descended from the banns, in which case it would be part of a certain religious culture that other groups may not take part of. It might also be that other people go to other, more specialized newspapers I simply am unaware of, confirming the hypothesis. However, I have read many newspapers, and thus become their publics, without even being aware that marriage publications like this were a thing. I was aware of obituaries, but the announcement of marriages had somehow passed me by.

http://www.masslive.com/weddings/

http://www.legacy.com/celebration/dallasmorningnews/celebrations-search.aspx?daterange=99999&announcementtype=1

Sidenote: The Republican has an interesting history behind it, if it can be considered a reliable source on itself. Apparently it was involved in the founding of the Republican party all the way back in the 1850s, back when Republican meant ‘anti-slavery’. Apparently several newspaper magnates and newspapers were strong supporters of the party. I wonder how this fits into the role of media and the like?